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TN HISTORY MAY 07.Qxp 4/16/07 3:41 PM Page 34 TN HISTORY MAY 07.qxp 4/16/07 3:41 PM Page 34 HISTORY LESSON by Bill Carey, the Tennessee History Guy Tennessee tips the scale The Volunteer State’s ratification gave women the right to vote s students once learned in American civics business” would be enacted (child labor laws, Aclasses, three-fourths of the states must rat- for instance). Some said, and wrote, that the pas- ify a proposed amendment for it to be added to sage of the amendment was contrary to biblical the U.S. Constitution. In 1920 (when there were principles and that the breakdown of families 48 states), Tennessee became the 36th state to would result from it. And some even argued that ratify one of the most important additions ever to the suffragist movement would result in the the Constitution — the one extending the right to empowerment of African-Americans (which vote (or “suffrage”) to women. And there was most whites were against at that time). plenty of drama when the Tennessee General That month, roses were in high demand in Assembly met in August 1920 to consider the downtown Nashville. People opposed to the pas- 19th Amendment. sage of the 19th Amendment wore red roses (or In March 1920, Washington became the 35th ribbons). Those in favor of its passage wore yel- state to ratify the amendment. Four months later, low roses (or ribbons). on July 25, Gov. Albert Roberts called a special The Tennessee Woman As the special session began, supporters and session of the Tennessee legislature to consider Suffrage Memorial opponents of the measure set up their bases in the stands in Market Hermitage Hotel. For the next several days they it. National attention focused on the Volunteer Square in Knoxville. State when the session began. Suffragist activists met with legislators in an attempt to get support from across the country, led by Carrie Chapman Catt, for their causes. And during the next few weeks both sides descended on Nashville’s Hermitage Hotel. Several of those would accuse each other of foul play. According to one his- activists were from Tennessee, among them Anne Dallas toric essay, Catt later claimed that anti-suffrage lobbyists Dudley and Sue Shelton White. “used liquor, loans, bribes, promises of high office” and other Among the key officials in Tennessee in favor of the pas- means to get people to vote against the measure. sage of the amendment were Gov. Roberts and U.S. Sen. Pro-suffrage advocates, meanwhile, were being pushy as Kenneth McKellar (who, by the way, represented Tennessee well. One reporter saw a suffragist grab a legislator by the in the U.S. Senate from 1917 to 1953). The most important tie, refusing to let it go while she vigorously stated her case government official opposed to the measure was State House to him. Finally the legislator pulled a knife from his pocket, Speaker Seth Walker of Lebanon. cut himself loose and walked away. Looking back, it is easy to make the assumption that all The state Senate approved the measure first, passing it by women were in favor of the 19th Amendment. But that was a vote of 25-4. This sent the measure to the 99-member state not the case. Lobbying against the so-called “Susan B. House. Anthony Amendment” in Nashville were a coalition of anti- People on both sides knew it would be close. In advance prohibitionists, manufacturers, religious elements and white of that roll-call vote on Aug. 18, 1920, both sides appeared supremacists. Some Tennessee women loaned their names to to be deadlocked. But when the name of “Representative newspaper advertisements opposing suffrage. Some argued Burn” was called, suffragist forces were thrilled to hear him that if women were given the vote, a series of laws “bad for respond with “aye” instead of “nay.” Burn, a little-known state representative from McMinn County, had previously been in the anti-suffrage camp. But he changed his mind Tennessee History for Kids and decided to vote in favor of the amendment because, as he later told a reporter, he held in his pocket a letter from Bill Carey is a Nashville author and exec- his mother urging him to vote for suffrage. “Vote for ratifi- cation and don’t keep them waiting,” his mother wrote. utive director of “Tennessee History Burn’s vote put the measure over the top, in spite of intense for Kids,” an online Tennessee histo- opposition (and parliamentary maneuvering) by House ry textbook. For more great sto- Speaker Walker. A few days later Gov. Roberts signed the certificate of ries of Tennessee history, go ratification and sent it to Washington. And on Aug. 26, U.S. to www.tnhistoryforkids.org. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby issued a proclamation declaring the 19th Amendment ratified. 34 The Tennessee Magazine.
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